Adaptive reuse continues to be a powerful tool used to save, preserve, and reform older buildings. In Tarragona, Spain, Josep Ferrando Architecture collaborated with Gallego Arquitectura to transform the former Reus prison into the El Roser Social Centre. 

In November 2021, Archinect reported the debate circulating in the U.S. around prison reuse. "The movement to design spaces that are actively working to undo some of the social harms caused by mass incarceration is still fairly nascent [...]." This newly-completed project in Tarragona follows a similar sentiment. 

The architects explain that the building's rehabilitation and intervention establish "a dialectic between the new more ethereal, light, tectonic elements, and the composition and stereotomic mineral materials of the heavier existing structure." 

The former prison will serve as a community center offering social services like food banks, temporary housing, and job placement for community members. The new facility is part of a community-driven program in Spain that brings together "all the social services of the city, which makes it the first comprehensive facility of its kind."

View before and after images of the site below.

According to the El Roser Social Center, the original structure was built as a prison in 1929 and later used as a nursery until 2013. "In 2018, the architectural remodeling project was approved. It has transformed it into an innovative social center. An innovation that is also perceived in the reform of the building, which has received recognition from the College of Architects of Catalonia (COAC)."

Take a look at the completed center in the following images.

Find also plans and sections of the center in the image gallery below.